[Environment and the human body. 11. Ontogeny and the environment].
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Environmental Health↗
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Results for “Environment”
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[Environment and care (7). Nutrition in a polluted environment].
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Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
[Environment and health care (8). Pollution of the inside environment].
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Air Pollution, Indoor↗
[Environment and health care (12). Environment-preserving activities in the nursing department].
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Conservation of Natural Resources↗
The changing environment for the practice of clinical chemistry. AACC Task Force on the Changing Practice Environment.
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Chemistry, Clinical↗
[Environmental concerns--fear of the environment or concern for the environment?].
Increasing environmental pollution as reported by the media, makes people feel insecure and frightened which contribute to the onset environmental disease Environmental hazards and risks are perceived differently by lay people and by scientific experts. This is not a matter of irrationality of laymen. The layman's view of risks includes evaluatory and pragmatic (how to cope with the problem) dimensions. According to Kofler, toxicopy is regarded as a somatic reaction to a suspected threat by environmental pollution usually provoked by respective information by the media. Toxicopy is understood as a survival strategy under uncertain knowledge. Dealing with the fears of patients, the physician has to avoid enhancement of unfounded concern on one side and negating real problems on the other. High priority should be given to establish a trustful and co-operative therapeutic situation, in which the patients feels that his concern is taken seriously.
Anxiety↗
QTL x environment interactions in rice. I. heading date and plant height.
One hundred twenty six doubled-haploid (DH) rice lines were evaluated in nine diverse Asian environments to reveal the genetic basis of genotype x environment interactions (GEI) for plant height (PH) and heading date (HD). A subset of lines was also evaluated in four water-limited environments, where the environmental basis of G x E could be more precisely defined. Responses to the environments were resolved into individual QTL x environment interactions using replicated phenotyping and the mixed linear-model approach. A total of 37 main-effect QTLs and 29 epistatic QTLs were identified. On average, these QTLs were detectable in 56% of the environments. When detected in multiple environments, the main effects of most QTLs were consistent in direction but varied considerably in magnitude across environments. Some QTLs had opposite effects in different environments, particularly in water-limited environments, indicating that they responded to the environments differently. Inconsistent QTL detection across environments was due primarily to non- or weak-expression of the QTL, and in part to significant QTL x environment interaction effects in the opposite direction to QTL main effects, and to pronounced epistasis. QTL x environment interactions were trait- and gene-specific. The greater GEI for HD than for PH in rice were reflected by more environment-specific QTLs, greater frequency and magnitude of QTL x environment interaction effects, and more pronounced epistasis for HD than for PH. Our results demonstrated that QTL x environment interaction is an important property of many QTLs, even for highly heritable traits such as height and maturity. Information about QTL x environment interaction is essential if marker-assisted selection is to be applied to the manipulation of quantitative traits.
Chromosome Mapping↗
Selection when traits have different genetic and phenotypic variances in different environments.
Falconer's concept that performance in environment 2 is a different trait from performance in environment 1 allows calculation of expected response in environment 2 if selection is from environment 1. Response to selection in environment 1 and correlated response in environment 2 depend on heritability and phenotypic variance in environment 1, genetic covariance between performance of identical genotypes in the two environments, and selection intensity. If selection is from performance in environment 2, direct response in environment 2 and correlated response in environment 1 also can be calculated. If selection is from animals in both environments and if selected genotypes are expressed randomly in both environments, relative responses in environments 1 and 2 are weighted averages of direct and correlated responses with the weights being p1 and p2, the fractions of animals selected from environments 1 and 2. Fraction selected from one environment determines the selection intensity factor for the direct and correlated responses in that and the other environment. Other terms determining relative responses are independent of fractions selected. A simple approach to finding the optimum fractions, p1 and p2, is to calculate weighted average responses for environments one and two for all combinations of p1 + p2 = p, a fixed fraction.
Animals↗
Divergent selection for growth in Japanese quail under split and complete nutritional environments. 2. Water and feed intake patterns and abdominal fat and carcass lipid characteristics.
A study was conducted to investigate water and feed intake patterns, abdominal fat and carcass lipid levels, feed efficiency and growth in high (H) and low (L) body weight lines of Japanese quail divergently selected under complete diet (CD) or split diet (SD) environments. Birds under the SD environment could self-select from high-protein low-energy or low-protein high-energy diets. Progeny from both the selected and control (C) lines were evaluated under the SD environment in Generations 6 and 10, and under the CD environment in Generation 10. Under the SD environment, body weights of the H lines were similar as were body weights of the L lines; however, under the CD environment, there were significant differences between H lines and between L lines. Body weights were higher under the CD than under the SD environment. Differences between H and L lines in body weights and 1-wk relative growth rates within SD and CD environments were attributed to differences in water and feed consumption and feed efficiency. Water consumption was greater in the SD than CD environments. Feed consumption was greater in the SD than CD environment from 0 to 2 wk of age; thereafter, feed consumption was higher in the CD environment. Abdominal fat and carcass lipid levels were greater in H than L lines, with the magnitude of the difference greater in the SD environment, indicating that the SD may be a better environment than the CD environment for the study of abdominal fat and carcass lipids in Japanese quail.
Adipose Tissue↗
Controlling interindividual differences in the unconditioned response to amphetamine in the study of environment-dependent sensitization.
Two subgroups of rats selected on the basis of their emergence latency in a light-dark box test were shown to exhibit significantly different unconditioned responses to d-amphetamine (AMPH, 1mg/kg). The rats presenting a low latency to emerge from the dark side (LL subgroup) responded more to AMPH than the rats presenting a high latency (HL subgroup). These two subgroups were compared for environment-dependent and environment-independent sensitization. The major findings were as follows: (a) when these two subgroups underwent a conditioning procedure to study environment-dependent sensitization, in which the paired groups received AMPH in Environment A (activity cages) and saline in Environment B (plastic housing cages), the unpaired groups received saline in A and AMPH in B, and the control groups received saline in both environments, only the LL subgroup showed conditioned activity and environment-dependent sensitization; (b) when LL and HL subgroups were submitted to a sensitization procedure designed to rule out any conditioning processes (environment-independent sensitization), there was no significant difference in the development and magnitude of sensitization although the amplitude of the response following each injection remained lower in the HL compared with the LL subgroup; (c) when unconditioned responses to AMPH for the two subgroups were equated by increasing the dose of AMPH for the HL rats (1.25mg/kg), there was no longer a significant difference between the two subgroups with respect to conditioned activity and environment-dependent sensitization; (d) in the LL subgroup, an extinction procedure (in which all animals received vehicle in both environments) that completely abolished the conditioned activity in the paired group, suppressed the difference between paired and unpaired groups during the test for environment-dependent sensitization, by reducing the response of the former. Overall, these results provide two major contributions: first, they show that interindividual differences in the unconditioned response to AMPH influence the outcome of the study of environment-dependent sensitization; second, when these differences are controlled, they suggest that environment-dependent sensitization appears to be the result of the addition between conditioned activity and environment-independent effects of AMPH.
Journal Article↗
Variations in nursing practice environments: relation to staffing and hospital characteristics.
BACKGROUND: While improvements in nursing practice environments are considered essential to address the nursing shortage, relatively little is known about the nursing practice environments in most hospitals. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to describe variations in nursing practice environments across hospitals and to examine their associations to hospital bed size, community size, teaching intensity, and nurse staffing levels. METHODS: The research design was cross-sectional analyses of nurse survey and administrative data for 156 Pennsylvania hospitals from 1999. For comparative reference, nurse survey data from earlier years from two small samples of nursing magnet hospitals were analyzed. The nursing practice environment was measured by the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI). RESULTS: Nursing practice environments varied greatly among the hospitals studied. The nursing practice environments of the small samples of magnet hospitals were superior to those of the Pennsylvania sample. About 17% of the hospitals in the Pennsylvania sample had favorable practice environments. Pennsylvania hospitals with better practice environments had higher RN-to-bed ratios. Practice environment differences were not associated with hospital bed size or community size. Hospitals with a modest teaching level had less favorable environments. DISCUSSION: Considerable variation exists in the quality of hospital nursing practice environments. Five out of six hospitals are targets for improvement. Favorable nursing practice environments can be achieved in a wide variety of hospital settings.
Acute Disease↗
On the minimum cost of an evolutionary strategy response to environment stress.
Two revised drafts about a simple evolution trade-off function studied by Mitchell(Mitchell, 2000) were put up first. Considering the complex of the environment, or the nonlinear interaction of the environment and species, we put up two new cost functions: [formula: see text] In the first case, if the environment is adverse to species (a > 0), the region of low-stress which is more suitable for the intolerant species is very small, and at the same environment stress z, the tolerant species will pay the more cost than it will paid in the normal environment. However the tolerant species will pay more cost but low strategies in the environment of a < 0 than that it will paid in the environment of a = 0 or a > 0. In the second case, the results showed that the greater the stress of the environment is, or the more complex the environment is, the lower cost the intolerant species will pay in the region of z < 1. In order to exist or to evolve from an environment of high-stress, the organisms must possess a higher u, or a better means of mitigating of the stress of environment. Meanwhile in the region d > 1, when d decrease, the intolerant species will pays more lower cost of exploiting a habitat in the low-stress environment while the tolerant one will pays more lower cost in the high-stress environment. This means that scale d describes the selection character of the species system in the evolution process, the smaller the d(d < 1) is, the better the selection or the mitigation the system will possesses.
Adaptation, Physiological↗
Genetic parameter estimates for postweaning traits of beef cattle in a stressful environment.
Postweaning growth data, collected from a Hereford herd located in the Southwest, were used to estimate genetic parameters for weights and gains. The herd was maintained on unsupplemented range forage, and average weight losses from weaning to yearling age were 9% for bulls and 12% for heifers. Data were grouped into years with poor and good environments based on contemporary group means for gain from 8 to 12 mo. Postweaning growth data (12- and 20-mo weights, 8- to 12-mo gain and 12- to 20-mo gain) were analyzed by least squares methods with a model that included year of birth, sire within year of birth, age of dam and a covariate of age for 12- and 20-mo weights. Heritability estimates of 12- and 20-mo weights for bulls were .58 +/- .15 and .55 +/- .22 in good environments vs .32 +/- .11 and 1.09 +/- .15 in poor environments; for heifers these estimates were .19 +/- .08 and .35 +/- .12 in good environments vs .38 +/- .07 and .47 +/- .09 in poor environments. Heritability estimates of 8- to 12-mo and 12- to 20-mo gain for bulls were .32 +/- .14 and .51 +/- .24 in good environments vs .16 +/- .11 and .09 +/- .14 in poor environments; for heifers these estimates were .21 +/- .08 and .14 +/- .10 in good environments vs .10 +/- .06 and .44 +/- .10 in poor environments. Genetic correlations among the preweaning traits of birth and weaning weight and postweaning weight traits were positive and of a moderate to large magnitude, with the exception of birth and 12-mo weight in a poor environment (-.06 +/- .49). Genetic correlations between 8- to 12-mo gain and birth weight in poor environment and weaning weight in all environments were negative (range from -.06 +/- .33 to -.53 +/- .41). Genetic correlations among 12- and 20-mo weights were large and positive in all environments. Relationships among gains were more variable.
Age Factors↗
Care home versus hospital and own home environments for rehabilitation of older people.
BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation for older people has acquired an increasingly important profile for both policy-makers and service providers within health and social care agencies. This growing demand for rehabilitation services has generated an increased interest in the use of alternative care environments, for example care home environments, for older persons' rehabilitation. At a time when there is pressure for policy decision-makers and service providers to explore the use of such care settings for the provision of rehabilitation for older people, there appears limited evidence on which to base decisions. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review is to compare the effects of care home environments (e.g. nursing home, residential care home and nursing facilities) versus hospital environments and own home environments in the rehabilitation of older people. SEARCH STRATEGY: The following databases were searched. The Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Specialised Register, the Cochrane Rehabilitation Specialist Register; Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR); MEDLINE (1966-2000); EMBASE (1980-2000), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (1982-2000): Science Citation Index (1982-2000); Social Science Citation Index (1982-2000); Best Evidence (1991-2000); HMIC (1979-2000); PsycINFO(1967-2000); ASSIA (1987-2000); Ageline (1978-2000); AgeInfo (1971-2000); Sociological Abstracts (1963-2000); System for Information on Grey Literature (SIGLE) (1980-2000); UK National Research Registers Project Database( Issue 1 2001); Architecture Publication Index (1977-2000). The following Journals were hand searched: Disability and Rehabilitation (1992-2000); Disability and Society (1986-2000); Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1985-2000); Journal of the American Geriatric Society (1980-2000); International Journal of Rehabilitation Research (1980-2000); American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1980-2000) and: Clinical Rehabilitation (1992-2000). The reviewers also consulted subject area experts and obtained full text review articles and forward tracked any references from these sources. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs) and interrupted time series (ITS) that compared rehabilitation outcomes for persons 60 years or older who received rehabilitation whilst residing in a care home with those for persons 60 years or older who received rehabilitation in hospital or own home environments. Primary outcomes included functional outcomes using activities of daily living measurement (both personal and instrumental). Secondary outcomes included subjective health status; quality of life measures; return to place of usual residency; all cause mortality; adverse effects; readmission to an acute care facility; patient and carer satisfaction; number of days in facility and number of days receiving rehabilitation. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: One reviewer (DW) completed the initial search and identified potential papers for inclusion. Abstracts for these papers were independently scrutinised by two reviewers (DW/MS) to assess their eligibility. Full text versions of potentially eligible papers were independently assessed by two reviewers (DW/MS). Papers that fulfilled the comparison inclusion criteria were then independently scrutinised by all reviewers to assess whether they met EPOC methodological criteria for inclusion. MAIN RESULTS: The total yield from the initial search strategy was 19,457. A total of 1,247 abstracts were independently scrutinised by two reviewers (DW/MS) to assess their eligibility. Full text papers for 99 studies were obtained to assess if they fulfilled the review's comparison inclusion criteria. This process resulted in 12 papers being assessed further for methodological validity. However, none of these studies met the inclusion criteria. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence to compare the effects of care home environments, hospital environments and own home environments on older persons rehabilitation outcomes. Although the authors acknowledge that absence of effect is not no effect. There are three main reasons; the first is that the description and specification of the environment is often not clear; secondly, the components of the rehabilitation system within the given environments are not adequately specified and; thirdly, when the components are clearly specified they demonstrate that the control and intervention sites are not comparable with respect to the methodological criteria specified by Cochrane EPOC group (Cochrane 1998). The combined effect of these factors resulted in the comparability between intervention and control groups being very weak. For example, there were differences in the services provided in the intervention and control arms, due possibly to differences in dominant remuneration systems, nature of the rehabilitation transformation, patient characteristics, skill mix and academic status of the care environment.
Aged↗
AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 23 (Part 1): Curriculum, environment, climate, quality and change in medical education-a unifying perspective.
This paper looks at five focal terms in education - curriculum, environment, climate, quality and change - and the interrelationships and dynamics between and among them. It emphasizes the power and utility of the concept of climate as an operationalization or manifestation of the curriculum and the other three concepts. Ideas pertaining to the theory of climate and its measurement can provide a greater understanding of the medical curriculum. The learning environment is an important determinant of behaviour. Environment is perceived by students and it is perceptions of environment that are related to behaviour. The environment, as perceived, may be designated as climate. It is argued that the climate is the soul and spirit of the medical school environment and curriculum. Students' experiences of the climate of their medical education environment are related to their achievements, satisfaction and success. Measures of educational climate are reviewed and climate measures for medical education are discussed. These should take account of current trends in medical education and curricula. Measures of the climate may subdivide it into different components giving, for example, a separate assessment of so-called Faculty Press, Student Press, Administration Press and Physical or Material Environmental Press. Climate measures can be used in different modes with the same stakeholders. For example, students may be asked to report, first, their perceptions of the actual environment they have experienced and, second, to report on their ideal or preferred environment. The same climate index can be used with different stakeholders giving, for example, staff and student comparisons. In addition to the educational climate of the environment that students inhabit, it is important to consider the organizational climate of the work environment that staff inhabit. This organizational climate is very significant, not only for staff, but for their students, too. The medical school is a learning organization evolving and changing in the illuminative evaluation it makes of its environment and its curriculum through the action research studies of its climate. Considerations of climate in the medical school, along the lines of continuous quality improvement and innovation, are likely to further the medical school as a learning organization with the attendant benefits. Unless medical schools become such learning organizations, their quality of health and their longevity may be threatened.
Journal Article↗
Physical and psychosocial aspects of the learning environment in information technology rich classrooms.
This paper reports on a study of environments in emerging Internet classrooms. At issue for this study is to what extent these 'technological classrooms' are providing a positive learning environment for students. To investigate this issue, this study involved an evaluation of the physical and psychosocial environments in computerized school settings through a combination of questionnaires and inventories that were later cross-referenced to case studies on a subset of these classrooms. Data were obtained from a series of physical evaluations of 43 settings in 24 school locations in British Columbia, Canada and Western Australia. Evaluations consisted of detailed inventories of the physical environment using the Computerised Classroom Environment Inventory (CCEI): an instrument developed specifically for this study. Data on psychosocial aspects of the environment were obtained with the What is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire administered to 1404 high school students making routine use of these computerized classrooms. Potential deficiencies in the physical environment of these locations included problems with individual workspaces, lighting and air quality, whereas deficiencies in the psychosocial environment were confined to the dimension of Autonomy. Further analysis of these classroom environment data indicated that student Autonomy and Task orientation were independently associated with students' Satisfaction with learning and that many physical (e.g. lighting and workspace dimensions) and psychosocial factors (e.g. students' perceptions of Co-operation and Collaboration) were also associated. The results provide a descriptive account of the learning environment in 'technology-rich' classrooms and, further, indicate that ergonomic guidelines used in the implementation of IT in classrooms may have a positive influence on the learning environment.
Adolescent↗
Individual and common components of the social environment at work and psychological well-being.
Interpretations of correlational research on the social origins of psychological well-being are limited by the possibility of reciprocal influences between persons and their social situations and by respondent bias. These issues are addressed in a study of the relation between the social environment at work and mental health. Two components of a social environment were measured: a common social environment, the social climate shared by employees in the same work setting. The study related (a) averaged co-workers' ratings and individuals' own ratings of the social environment to (b) individuals' self-reported psychological well-being. A group of 37 bank branches represented work environments, and nonmanagerial personnel in the branches served as participants. Results indicated that the quality of the social environment at work is related to the mental health of employees. More important, the relation was confirmed with an independent measure of the social environment. Aggregate co-worker ratings of the common social environment were significantly correlated with individual depression and anxiety. However, an individual's perceptions appeared to mediate the social environment's impact. As hypothesized, well-being was more closely tied to the proximal individual social environment than to the more distal common social environment.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 23 (Part 2): Curriculum, environment, climate, quality and change in medical education - a unifying perspective.
This paper looks at five focal terms in education - curriculum, environment, climate, quality and change - and the interrelationships and dynamics bemeen and among them. It emphasizes the power and utility of the concept of climate as an operationalization or manifetation of the curriculum and the other three concepts. Ideas pertaining w the theory of climate and its measurement can provide a greater understanding of the medical cumadurn. The environment is an impoltant detemzinant of behaviour. Environment is perceived by students and it is perceptions of environment that are related w behaviour. The environment, as perceived, may be designated as climate. It is argued that the climate is the soul and spirit of the medical school environment and curriculum. Students' experiences of the climate of their medical education environment are related w their achievements, sangaction and success. Measures of educational climate are reviewed and the possibilities of new climate measures for medical education are discussed. These should take account of current trends in medical education and curricula. Measures of the climate may subdivide it inw dzfferent components giving, for example, separate assessment of so-called Faculty Press, Student Press, Administration Press and Physical or Material Environmental Press. Climate measures can be used in different modes with the same stakeholders. For example, students may be asked to report, first, their perceptions of the actual environment they have experienced and, second, w report on their ideal or preferred environment. The same climate index can be used with different stakeholders giving, for example, staff and student comparisons. The climate is important for staff as well as for students. The organizational climate that teaching staff experience in the work environment that they inhabit is important for their well-being, and that of their students. The medical school is a learning organization evolving and changing in the illuminative evaluation it makes of its environment and its curriculum through the action research studies of its climate. Consderations of climate in the medical school along the lines of continuous quality improvement and innovation are likely to further the medical school as a learning organization with the attendant benefits. Unless medical schools become such learning organizations their quality of health and their longevity may be threatened.
Journal Article↗